by Cosimo Graziani
Washington – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio concluded his three-day tour of South America on Thursday, September 10, during which he met with the heads of State of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The visit forms part of what has been described as the “Donroe Doctrine,” presented as the “Donald Trump Corollary” to the historic Monroe Doctrine: the set of declarations and actions through which, as early as the 19th century, the United States made clear to the European powers that they were no longer welcome in the Western Hemisphere.
The fight against drug trafficking is officially one of the cornerstones of the Trump Doctrine. Among the “unofficial” reasons for this U.S. initiative in Latin America, however, is the effort to counter China’s presence in the region.
The visit began with a meeting with Colombian President De La Espriella, who, despite having taken office only a few weeks ago, has already brought a decisive shift to his country’s foreign policy, moving it closer to Washington after the years of Gustavo Petro’s presidency. In August, Colombia joined the Shield of the Americas, the U.S. initiative to combat drug trafficking. Critics in the country have accused the initiative of effectively being a blank check that could pave the way for possible U.S. military intervention on Colombian territory.
During Rubio’s visit, the two countries signed two additional agreements: the first concerning potential cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy, and the second on the supply of critical materials for the technology sector.
In Ecuador, the U.S. Secretary of State met with President Daniel Noboa. Here too, the visit focused on the fight against drug trafficking. In recent years, Ecuador has become a major transit country, while the activities of gangs and criminal groups have intensified. During his visit, Rubio designated another local criminal group, Los Tiguerones, as a terrorist organization. It is the third group to receive such a designation in the space of two years.
No agreements were signed, but the United States pledged an additional $45 million to the funds it already allocates to Ecuador for security purposes, again with a focus on combating drug trafficking. A further $10 million will be allocated to combating illegal mining, recruitment into criminal organizations and illicit financing.
In the third and final stop of his tour, Rubio met with newly elected President Keiko Fujimori in Peru. During the visit, Fujimori announced that her country would join the Shield of the Americas, explaining that the partnership between the two countries would strengthen security cooperation, particularly through intelligence-sharing and efforts to combat transnational criminal groups.
Rubio’s visit was met with a series of statements from opposition figures, who criticized what they described as U.S. interference in Peru’s foreign policy.
While the fight against narcoterrorism is invoked as the primary justification for the Trump administration’s actions across the Western Hemisphere, other issues remain in the background. In particular, a second theme that emerged from the meetings during this tour was cooperation on raw materials and minerals. Rubio discussed the issue in Colombia and, above all, in Peru, where it has become closely intertwined with China’s commercial presence in the country.
Beijing is Lima’s principal trading partner and one of the world’s leading buyers of copper, making China an indispensable commercial partner for Peru. The Trump administration has repeatedly made clear that its foreign policy is driven, among other considerations, by the security of critical-material supply chains. From this perspective, China’s presence in South America is increasingly perceived and treated as a factor to be countered.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.